Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Tennessee delegation opposes pace, path of health reform

By Bill Theobald • TENNESSEAN WASHINGTON BUREAU • September 8, 2009 WASHINGTON — The nation may be in turmoil over what Congress should do about reforming health care, but there's surprising consensus among members of the Tennessee delegation as they return from their summer recess today. None of the five Middle Tennessee House members — four Democrats and one Republican — and neither of the state's two Republican senators favors creating a government-run health insurance option as outlined in legislative proposals. The option would compete with private insurers to keep health-care costs down. And they agree that Congress should slow down and focus on several issues where there appears to be bipartisan agreement — at least within the Tennessee delegation. "We've proved we haven't done comprehensive very well in Congress," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, who called for a more incremental approach. Members band together They agree on the need to: • Eliminate the use of pre-existing medical conditions as a reason to deny people insurance coverage. • Create cross-state insurance pools for small businesses and individuals to make insurance more affordable. • Ensure that people aren't forced off their health insurance when a serious illness strikes. When they return, members of the Tennessee delegation will be looking to two sources for the path forward on health reform. One is the Senate Finance Committee, whose members are trying to reach a bipartisan compromise. The second and more significant is President Barack Obama, who on Wednesday will deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress, laying out details of what he wants done. "I think the president needs to be sensitive to the opinion of the American people because they have spoken loud and clear," said Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville.

1 comment:

whitecollargreenspaceguy said...

Now on youtube:
"A Citizen's Response to President Barack Obama's Health Care Speech"

http://www.youtube.com/user/greenspaceguy

The government already has the funds to pay for universal health care and to reduce our carbon footprint. Stay tuned for an earth-shaking paradigm shift that could save jobs, universal health care, and the environment. The Information Age finally talks to its older brother, the Industrial Revolution. Interchangeable parts in a virtual world.

For a full transcript visit
www.whitecollargreenspace.blogspot.com

The 50 million individuals with no health insurance are not just Americans; they are our relatives, neighbors, and friends. Just as the majority of us have no idea what it is like to live with a deadly disease or injury, we also cannot imagine what our lives would be like if we had to face such suffering and pain with no health insurance. We must stop using our mouths to fight and argue over which souls will be covered; we must put our hearts and minds together and find the funds to pay for their care. That would be the American way.

Mr. President,
In a recent radio address you stated that the only way for us to dig our way out of the rut we are in is through innovation. I wish for you and Congress to consider the following policy change. Anyone that has questions or comments or thinks that this will not work, can leave me a comment at www.whitecollargreenspace.blogspot or send me an email at whitecollargreenspaceguy@hotmail.com

The Federal government leases or owns close to ½ billion square feet of office space. Most white collar workers work an eight hour shift each day even though most buildings are open for 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm. Overall these expensive facilities sit unused 60 to 70% of the time. By keeping buildings open an additional 4 or 5 hours each day, we could schedule 2 shifts of white collar workers, thus increasing our efficiency by 100% and reducing our carbon footprint by 50%. We could cut the cost of overhead for each employee by 40 to 50%, half as much infrastructure, half as much office space, half as many computers and supplies. With the overhead for each of our 2 million Federal workers approaching $50,000 per year, the potential savings could be $25 to $50 billion per year. By extending this new paradigm to independent contractors and state offices where the Federal government pays the state a percentage of the cost, the savings could be between $50 and $100 billon per year. This could be used as the seed money to help pay the cost of covering the currently uninsured...